The project Nordic Innovation Marine Marketing Program (NIMMP) was designed to raise attention for students’ job and education possibilities within the marine sector in the Nordic counties and encourage young people to consider the sector as a field of study or career. Many countries in the Nordic region are heavily dependent on the marine industry and the demand for people with diverse education, willing to work in a creative and fast growing environment, has never been greater or more urgent.

The project goal was to produce videos that should:

(1) Lead to more students applying for numerous educational programs within the marine industry

(2) Lead to more students applying for jobs within the marine industry

(3) Change the way numerous marine institutions, companies and key players view innovative methods to optimize and improve all kinds of working processes within the industry.

Method/implementation:

The project organized a marine boot camp in the Faroe Islands where 18 university students from the Nordic region were selected to take on a marine related challenge. The whole trip to the Faroe Islands was documented with the aim of creating a 5-minute promotional video that captured the experience of the boot camp. In addition to the 5 minute video, 1 minute info-graphic video was designed to raise attention to the many opportunities within the marine industry in a more simple and appealing way.

The students approached an industry related challenge in a 32 hours long workshop. The challenge was designed in collaboration with Nordic companies in the marine sector and the problem at hand was a real issue that companies in the fields are currently dealing with.

Concrete results and conclusions:

The findings of the boot camp were displayed in a promotional video and gathered in a report that will aid companies in the sector to come up with innovative solution. The videos were marketed within universities, in the marine sector and towards the general public with the attention of more students applying for numerous educational programs within the marine industry. Further, more students applying for jobs within the marine industry and changing the way numerous marine institutions, companies and key players view innovative methods to optimize and improve all kinds of working processes within the industry.

We believe that the project and its videos have and can continue to help change the image of the marine industry in the long-term. In our opinion, highlighting the innovative processes and startup scene within the marine industry will eventually establish new associations to the industry and lead to more young people applying for educational programs and jobs within that field.

Recommendations:

We believe that in the long run the project can truly impact the number of young people applying for jobs within the marine sector as well as change the way marine institutions, companies and key players view innovative methods within the sector. Our hopes for the future is that players within the field; universities, marine institutions, companies and key players will continue to show interest in the project and its two remaining videos.

The project can be considered as a great pilot project, which can be replicated to other industries looking to take innovative approach e.g. agriculture, transportation, tourism and the health care industry. We also see possibilities with more local approaches. After the boot camp in the Faroe Islands, Klak Innovit received an offer by Innovasjon Norge to facilitate a similar marine boot camp in Trondheim, Norway. In January 2014, Klak Innovit travelled to Norway to facilitate a boot camp with 17 university students from Norway. In 2015, Klak Innovit will facilitate three more workshops for University students in Norway funded by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund.

Project owner

Kristjan KristjanssonInnovit Entrepreneurship Center, IS

Project leader

Project members

Andreas PetterssonSwedish University of Agricultural sciences, SEDan NielsenGate to Create, DKLouise Brink ThomsenCopenhagen Business School (CBS), DKVegard ArnoffNorwegian University of Life Science, NO